From returning greenkeeper to course manager in just three years, Shaun Embleton is spearheading a massive redevelopment at one of the north east’s premier resorts. He discusses moving away from committee-led structures, reimagining championship holes for a modern audience, and why Ramside Hall is the “sleeping giant” finally finding its voice.

Few clubs in the north east are changing faster than Ramside Hall. For course manager Shaun Embleton, who joined the team just three years ago, that progress has mirrored his own rapid rise.

He arrived in 2021 as a greenkeeper, was promoted to head greenkeeper two years later, and soon after took on the role of course manager.

Today, he leads an 18-strong team overseeing two championship courses, a soon to open short-game area, and a growing reputation that’s turning the resort into one of the north east’s leading golf destinations.

“It’s been a whirlwind,” he says. “I didn’t expect it to happen that quickly, but I thought, why not jump at it? You don’t get opportunities like this very often.”

Before Ramside Hall, Embleton spent over two decades at Ryton Golf Club, just outside Newcastle. He took a brief detour into scaffolding for a year, before deciding it wasn’t for him. Returning to greenkeeping at Ramside, he says, was one of the best decisions he ever made.

The move from a smaller local club to a 36-hole resort was a big adjustment. “After 23 years in one place, you know every blade of grass,” he recalls.

“I was shocked by how big the place was when I first came. You have two very different courses here, so it was definitely an eye-opener.”

But the opportunity was too good to pass up. With Ramside Hall’s director, John Adamson, investing heavily in the resort, Embleton says, “I thought it’d be great not just for me, but for a lot of greenkeepers in the region, to be part of what he’s doing here.”

Embleton now leads a team of 18, including head greenkeepers Nick Mansell, Jonathan Flowers and Stephen Welch, and a recent new addition, Dan Robson from Castle Eden. “Dan’s done support work at The Open and the US Open,” he says. “His enthusiasm is great. We’ve managed to build a great team here.”

Despite the size of the operation, Embleton remains very hands-on. “I’m not really an office person,” he says. “I like being outside with the lads, getting stuck in. It’s been a real learning curve though, seeing just how much work goes on behind the scenes and after work. It’s a big challenge, and I’m still learning so much as I’m going through. But I’ve had opportunities here that I don’t think I’d get at many other clubs.”

One of the biggest advantages at Ramside Hall, he says, is the resort’s structure. Without a committee to report to, he can focus on managing the course and his team efficiently. “A lot of people ask what’s the worst thing greenkeepers can have, and I say committees,” he explains. “You’ve hired someone to do a job, let them do it. I’m lucky that I just deal with John, and he lets me get on with it. That’s massive, because a lot of greenkeepers are tied down.”

Next year marks 30 years since Ramside Hall’s Prince Bishop’s Course opened. For Embleton, the focus has been on preserving its character while bringing it in line with the needs of the modern golfer. When he arrived, some tees and bunkers were dated, with small tee boxes bearing heavy traffic and certain bunkers being bypassed by players’ drives. By extending the tees, opening up the greens for better airflow and visibility, and widening narrow fairways, the course has been enhanced for both playability and presentation.

“The 15th green has been extended at the front, and we’ve widened several fairways that had got too narrow,” Embleton explains. “It’s about making it more enjoyable, encouraging a good pace of play, and elevating the overall quality of the course.”

While subtle refinements are helping to modernise the Prince Bishop’s course, work on the Cathedral Course has been far more ambitious.

“We’ve been changing the grass types around the bunkers to give it more of an inland-links feel. Trying to make it a lot more linksy than it had been previously.

“The bunkers were huge and took a lot of time to maintain, so we’re letting them have a wispier grass look around them. It looks brilliant through summer and reduces maintenance hours.”

However, the most significant investment has been the introduction of two new holes and the rebuilding of another, which Embleton hopes will elevate two of the weaker holes on the course into the strongest.

“There were two holes that everyone used to talk about, the par-five 7th and the par-four 17th. So, we’ve taken these two weaker spots and are working to turn them into hopefully the two best holes on the course. The old 7th, which was a long par five, has been split into a short par four and a par three.”

Meanwhile, the former 17th has been completely reworked to become the new finishing hole, set to pose a dramatic challenge where players will have to hold their nerve over a water hazard.

“It used to be a really long par four where most players had to lay up to the corner with an iron and then hit a wood from there. It wasn’t a great hole to be fair,” Embleton admits. “We’ve shortened it. Now it’s a positional shot off the tee to a green where you have to go for it. It’s either on the green or in the water, no bailout area.”

He adds: “The work that’s going on at the minute with the water feature and the green position beside the new clubhouse balcony, it’s going to be very dramatic. One of the best finishing holes in the north east, hopefully. That’s the vision we’re going for.”

Beside the new finishing hole, Ramside Hall is developing a state-of-the-art short-game area, set to open next season. Following the opening of the resort’s two-tiered driving range this summer, the ambition is that the short-game facility will set a new regional standard.

Floodlit and featuring a twin green with a wide variety of practice areas, Embleton thinks it sums up the ambition behind the entire project. “When we talked to John, we said the short-game area had to match the quality of the range. He hasn’t held back. He wants it to be the best it can possibly be.”

For Embleton, the investment at Ramside Hall isn’t just about creating an exceptional golf facility but something that benefits the region as a whole. He calls the resort a “sleeping giant” that is finally starting to wake up.

“It’s not just good for Ramside, but for the whole of the north east. It’s giving young players somewhere to aspire to, a place with proper facilities and ambition. It’s a centre where upcoming stars can go, it’s giving them the option of somewhere to go.”

“It’s non-stop,” he says. “But I love it.”